The beauty queen who committed million-dollar fraud appeared in court this morning.

Following the initial trial, Tuyet Nga filed an appeal. To date, the defendant has repaid 27 billion VND in damages.

On the morning of November 17th, the High People's Court in Ho Chi Minh City opened the appeal hearing for defendant Truong Thi Tuyet Nga (56 years old, residing in Go Vap district) on charges of fraud and appropriation of property. High Judge Le Thanh Van presided over the trial.

Nga won the title of Successful Mrs. Universe in 2009.

In the first-instance trial on July 26, Tuyet Nga was sentenced to 15 years in prison and ordered to return $3.1 million and nearly 3,000 square meters of land to the victim.

Subsequently, both the victim and the defendant filed appeals. To date, the defendant has repaid 27 billion VND in damages.

Defendant Truong Thi Tuyet Nga, who won the title of Successful Businesswoman Beauty Queen in 2009, appeared in court at the first-instance trial.

According to the first-instance judgment, in 2007-2008, Ms. Nga applied for a permit to invest in the construction of a high-end residential and commercial center project on a 30,000 m2 plot of land in District 2, Ho Chi Minh City. However, the land was located within the planned area for the Thu Thiem railway station, so the construction and investment permit was not granted as she had hoped.

Nevertheless, Ms. Nga still signed a land use rights transfer contract with Ms. Duong My Linh, receiving a deposit of 3.1 million USD (according to the indictment). According to the agreement, the selling price was 1,800 USD/m².²The total transaction value was $54 million. The transfer contract did not specify the location of the land plot.

When questioned by the customer, Nga reassured him by stating that a detailed contract would be provided once the full payment for the land was made. Along with this, Nga transferred nearly 3,000 square meters of land within the aforementioned area to Mr. Tran Van Muoi.

Instead of handing over the land, Nga obtained several land use right certificates. Using these documents, she proceeded to transfer ownership to her son. On April 3, 2008, the defendant used these land certificates to mortgage them at a bank for 131 billion VND, but was discovered.

During the investigation, authorities also received numerous complaints from individuals and organizations accusing the beauty queen of defrauding them of nearly 900 billion VND.

The Investigation Department of the Supreme People's Procuratorate also prosecuted the defendant for bribing several officials to escape punishment for defrauding them of $3.1 million. However, this act was separated and dealt with in a different case.

According to Zing